A little bit of magic for us. Mostly geeky magic. Or just not magical at all.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Review: the useful Andonstar USB microscope

The Andonstar USB microscope is definitely a great tool to double check surface mount components among other uses. I bought it from them on Banggood for about $50 (yep, it is not a low cost low quality USB endoscope).

Below I had to replace an AMS1117 regulator from a RAMPS that I blew (I plugged a 2-wire endstop to the wrong pair of 3-pin, which mean I grounded the power supply and got magic smoke...). I could then check how ugly I did ;)

The zoom range of an Andonstar USB microscope! And excellent tool for its price.

My main opinion is:

great wide zooming range (see the pic below)

integrated leds that are very close to the camera sensor (no external device would give enough light in the shot on the right given how close the lens is from the board)

the light intensity can be tuned down to zero. Sometimes the object is too reflective and it "flattens" the image. Then, an external lateral light beam is better.

a stable support with fast height adjustment (the stick can be raised/lowered quickly from the "main" tower) PLUS a fine thumbwheel on top of the camera barrel.

Drawbacks?

none really for the price

make sure to align "north" with "north" by precisely rotating the barrel, else it is hellish ;)

still the main pole has a bit of free play left, which can be felt when tuning with the thumb wheel at high zoom ratios (the small wheel is very firm). And there is no easy way to hack this.

Update: this slightly more expensive $85 version (A1-200W-B) addresses this with a definitive improvement. It uses the same microscope, but the already good stands looks way better. I would buy this one if I had to buy again. I bought it. It is not perfect (the barrel tilts too easily, and there is a slight free play in the focus ring -- but it is good).

The same USB microscope/endoscope but with an improved stand ($80 here)

Anyhow it is a must have in my opinion. I use it very often to inspect PCBs, to read SMT component values, or whenever my eyes are tired...

Final note: this microscope is featured in a video by Dave on EEVblog (a nice source of information by the way).

Note: the above scope is excellent for super tiny operations and also for finely checking the results. But I often rely on a "two eye", cheaper magnifier like the one below ($9!). It works well enough for 1206 SMT soldering jobs for example. Having the depth is much more comfortable, and it is easier to switch from the view on the board to the view through the lens than to look at a flat video on the screen while your hands are elsewhere. It does work (hence this review), but it is not intuitive at first.

Much cheaper ($9), but more comfortable magnifier,
for bigger jobs like large SMT soldering.
You can look through the lens with both eyes so you get the sense of depth back.
But it certainly does not zoom as much as the Andonstar.

About Me

If you know me and you cannot tell exactly what my real job is, then you probably found the right Jeremie. Check zax.fr for some pointers.

I am self-employed and I help start-ups, research centers, small companies with their needs related to computers, sensors, data processing and mechatronics. If you have a project and know what "R&D" is, then you already sparked my interest ;)